Regardless of one’s personal religious beliefs, Christmas means that a whole bunch of classical musicians are valued and loved at this time of year and perhaps even more importantly, paid. And a whole lot of instrumentalists are making their rent off this baby right here.

I did a dumb thing today and started a comment fight on a Classic FM post because I just couldn’t handle their ludicrous claim that Olympia’s “Doll aria” aka “Les oiseaux dans les charmilles” from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman was “the most insane piece ever written for soprano“.